


Couldn't read the Test, Engage Panic Mode

by spaceMaverick



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Chara's POV, Chara's Pronouns are They/Them, Flavor Text Narrator Chara, Frisk's Pronouns are They/Them, Nonbinary Chara and Frisk, Other, Panic Attacks, Post-Undertale Pacifist Route - "I want to stay with you.", frisk is telepathic, fun fact: there was no tag for just frisk and chara, how do i tag lmao, it isnt focused on their relationship but its there
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-24
Updated: 2016-10-24
Packaged: 2018-08-24 10:53:32
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,137
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8369533
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spaceMaverick/pseuds/spaceMaverick
Summary: In which Chara fell when they were nine and didn't exactly learn English in the Underground.





	

“Alright, everyone, we’re going to have a pre-assessment today- just to see what you already know.” Ms. Klien was passing out papers to the students in the class. I was feeling a little nervous, I hadn’t learned much in the four years of education I got before I fell. 

It’ll be okay, I thought, the teachers have to have heard about me. I’ll be fine. A paper was passed to me. I turned it over carefully and-

Oh my God.

I couldn’t read it. I couldn’t read the paper. I felt my heart speed up, but I forced my panic down. No matter how hard I tried, I could only make out words like the and great. 

Oh jeez, I was so fucked.

“Hey,” Frisk whispered, “are you alright?” Mom had made sure Frisk, Monster Kid, and I were in all the same classes so we would be safe and confident. I was really glad about that right now.

“I, uh, I can’t-” it got harder to breathe and I felt tears welling up in my eyes. “Uhm, I…”

“Take your time, Chara. Don’t hurt yourself.” Frisk’s soft voice traveling into my thoughts was a welcome change to the panicked ones plaguing me right now. You can’t read, they taunted, Stupid bitch. I swallowed the intrusions and cast a thought back to Frisk. “I can’t read the test.”

“What?”

“I can’t read it. I stopped learning english at nine, remember? I can only speak it fluently because of you and how similar monster is to it.” 

“Okay, just- just let me talk to the teacher. Are you okay with that?”

“Yeah. Uh, yeah, I’m fine. Just… be quiet about it?”

“Of course.”

Frisk got up quietly and padded up to Ms. Klien. They whispered something into her ear and glanced back at me. Ms. Klien paused, clearly confused, and turned to me. I could sense the pity in her.

My attention was directed back to how incredibly sweaty I was and the fact that I felt like I was gonna die.

“Uh, Chara,” Ms. Klien said. She was speaking very carefully. “Will you come outside with me?”

“Frisk.” I blurted out. I couldn’t form words. I couldn’t speak. Everything was closing in and I couldn’t breathe.

“Do you want me to come with you?” Frisk looked up at me. I nodded and they grabbed my hand. Ms. Klien was confused, but she didn’t bother asking. We followed her out of the classroom and I sat down against the wall. Frisk sat down in my lap and ran their thumb back and forth across my hand.

“Okay,” Ms. Klien said, “what language do you speak, Chara?”

“N-nothing. Uh- well I- Monster!” Still not doing well in the speaking field.

Frisk, God bless them, stepped in. “They only had an education until they were nine. Most of the words on that paper are not fourth grade level.”

“Didn’t even learn much. Fourth grade, not much. At home a lot? Pageants. All dresses and sewing, not much time. Bad english. I dunno.” I couldn’t fucking speak! “I need- uh…” 

“Chara, calm down,” Frisk interrupted. They turned to Ms. Klien. “Get Tor- Mrs. Dreemurr.”

“Yes. Right.” Ms. Klien turned around a corner and disappeared. Toriel skidded across the corner and dropped to her knees in front of me.

“Mom, mom help.”

“It’s alright, my child. Ms. Klien only said I needed to get here quick, can you tell me what’s wrong?”

“English? Can’t read it. I’m scared, mom.”

Mom smiled. “Oh, Chara,” she sighed, then turned to Ms. Klien. “I need you to get Gerson. He will know what to do.”

“Y-yes, right away,” the teacher mumbled. She turned the corner again.

“Now,” Mom said, “I need you to control your breathing, Chara. Think of happy things.”

“Flowers,” I whispered.

“That’s right. Now, keep your thoughts on the golden flowers in your father’s throne room. Think of the flowers in your village. Think of golden flower tea and your drawing in your old room. Focus your energy there and keep calm.”

I breathed out and concentrated on the silky petals of buttercups and the tough grass in the old park. Something tickled my hand and I looked down. I smiled when I saw a little vine creeping up my arm.

“Wow,” Frisk said. They were always so amazed with my plant magic, I didn’t really know why. Maybe because I never did it. 

I kept focusing on the vine and watched it grow up and over my shoulders, and rested my head on the wall behind me. The vine stayed for a moment, then fell apart and disappeared into the floor. A sigh of relief escaped me and I leaned against Frisk.

“Great job, Chara!” Mom gushed, “Oh Chara, I’m so proud of you.” Mom leaned down and drowned me in fluffy white fur as she hugged me. 

“What seems to be the problem here?” Gerson’s croak turned my attention to my right. The old tortise was hobbling down the hall at a surprising speed. 

“Thank goodness you’re here,” Mom began, “Chara needs a monster translation for this paper. Oh! Does Monster Kid need one as well?”

“I’ll ask.” Frisk went back into the classroom for a moment and re-appeared. “He needs one, too.”

“Well, I’ll go ahead an’ start on this,” Gerson said happily, “in the meantime, you youngin’s go back inside an’ calm down. Take care of yerself, Chara.”

God, I loved Gerson. He was the best. “Thank you,” I breathed. I stood back up and grabbed Frisk’s hand. The class stared when the three of us walked in and sat together in the corner, but I didn’t care much. I was too exaughsted from the panic attack to scare politeness into anyone. Frisk cast a thought to Ms. Klien to tell her the situation. I knew that most of the humans here didn’t like Frisk’s telepathy- I had lost count of how many times I’d explained that “No, they can’t read your thoughts unless you explicitly direct them at Frisk,” to people- but the class really didn’t need to know. Ms. Klien nodded and continued with her lesson after everyone finished their tests. Meanwhile, Frisk, Monster Kid, and I whispered to each other and read old monster books. Frisk had to ask what some words were, but they had two fluent monster-speakers to help them read. It was a lot of fun.

A knock on the door from Gerson interrupted the class. He let himself in and hobbled over to the corner we were sitting in. “Here ya’ are, kids. Fully translated into monster. Later I can make a spell to translate things, I’ll get back to ya’ on that.” With that, the old tortise walked out of the room. 

It was gonna be okay. We had this.

**Author's Note:**

> Yeah here's a thing i wrote long ago. My headcanon is 15-year-old Chara who fell when they were nine. Monster was pretty similar to English and Chara had narrated so many humans that they learned enough but what the fuck is a quadratic formula?


End file.
